


Eye of the Beholden

by mpatientdreamr



Category: Glee
Genre: Episode Tag, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-15
Updated: 2012-07-15
Packaged: 2017-11-10 00:45:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/460369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mpatientdreamr/pseuds/mpatientdreamr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wherein Puck shoots his reputation in the foot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eye of the Beholden

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Notes: This is set during Home (1x16), so SPOILERS for that episode. And this was written a couple of days after the episode, then lost, then found again, so don’t blame me if it’s a little behind on events.

Puck honestly hadn’t been thinking because he wouldn’t have committed social suicide for _Mercedes_. Rachel, maybe. Quinn? Well, she was his baby mama, so definitely. But not Miss Diva, Mercedes.

Blame it on the fact that nothing ever made him feel as clean as singing. Blame it on the fact that life was shitty except when he was in Glee. Blame it on the fact that the basketball and football teams had to share the locker room with the hockey douches.

Whatever the blame, Karofsky was dangling from Puck’s fist and Puck’s reputation was blown.

All because Mercedes had sung ‘Beautiful’ and not 20 minutes later, Karofsky had opened his big fat mouth and said, laughing, “I guess the fat lady just sang.”

And Puck, on _instinct_ , grabbed him and slammed him into the lockers. Karofsky was a douche and 9 out of every 10 things he said was insulting. Only, in the locker rooms, hell everywhere but the choir room, the Gleeks were fair targets.

Well, that was the past, Puck decided in that instant. He might as well finish falling on his sword and do the one thing Finn could never do.

“Don’t ever talk smack about Jones again,” Puck said, a menacing snarl curling his lip as his voice dropped octaves. This was just for Karofsky, although Azimio and the other ring leaders would get the talk, too. “Don’t flush Abrams’s glasses down the toilet. Don’t toss Hummel in the dumpster. Don’t slush Berry. Don’t…” 

He couldn’t actually think of anything they’d done to Tina because she’d done such an awesome job of being unnoticeable, but Matt supplied, sounding pissed off himself, “Don’t grab Tina’s ass in the hallway.”

And Puck’s fist twisted in Karofsky’s shirt, cutting off his air, and he slammed him into the lockers again. Puck had always had a shitty temper but at Matt’s words, he experienced a rage like he’d never felt before.

“Don’t you _ever_ lay a hand on a girl in Glee,” Puck hissed, getting up in Karofsky’s face. “If you ever mess with a Gleek again, I will personally find you and tear you to shreds. If your goons go after them, I’m still coming for you. As of today, the Gleeks are off limits. Anybody that comes at them had better watch their back.”

Puck shoved away from him and that should have been that but Karofsky said, odd glint in his eye, “You wouldn’t hit a girl.”

And Puck suddenly remembered that Karofsky’s girlfriend was the fifth high bitch of the Cheerios.

He snarled but Mike laughed, saying, “Dude, we’ve got _Santana_. Missy won’t go against her, not even for you.”

Well, Santana maybe had to give the order first, but Puck could probably talk her into it.

“Spread the word,” Puck ordered and Karofsky looked constipated.

Coach Tanaka came in, scowling as always. “Puckerman, Chang, Rutherford, Hudson. You’ve got an early Glee practice. Get lost.”

Coach stomped back out and the four of them started changing out of their gym clothes, the rest of the jocks watching.

“Are you really choosing them over us?” Azimio asked, waving his hand around the room.

“Yeah,” Puck said, shrugging. He hadn’t been getting invited to any good parties lately, anyway. Impending teenage fatherdom put a damper on everybody’s good time.

“Why?” Karofsky asked, somewhere between baffled and disgusted.

“Because they’re not gonna be Lima losers forever,” he said, looking around at them.

He grabbed his backpack and left before anyone could say anything else. When he got to the choir room, it was cheerful and loud.

“Hey, Jones,” Puck called.

The smile fell from her face as he walked closer and she said, “What?”

He studied her face, really looked at her for the first time, and swallowed. “Great solo,” he said before heading to the third row to flow down beside Quinn.

She took his hand and looked at him like he was worthy for the first time since all this began.

“She’s pretty,” he murmured, watching Mercedes laugh at something Rachel said that probably wasn’t meant to be funny. “I didn’t notice before.”

“That’s okay,” Quinn said quietly. “She doesn’t always notice, either.”

Berry laughed at something, pulling away from St. James enough to lean into Artie for their own little inside joke. St. James was baffled and Puck was glad because he didn’t care what Mr. Schue said. The douche was a mole, a harbinger of trouble, and a serious threat not only to Glee but also to Berry. For all the shit this school had put her through, she was extremely emotionally fragile.

(Puck had a list of all the people that had the potential to go crazy and shoot up McKinley High. Before Glee, Rachel Berry had held the top spot. Now, if Berry didn’t break down and date him, it was totally Jewfro.)

“Penny for your thoughts,” Quinn asked, although her eyes never left St. James. Yeah, she didn’t like him, either.

Puck swallowed and said, “I became a Gleek today.”

Quinn smiled and laid her head on his shoulder. “Me, too.”


End file.
